❓ What is the best way someone can support you and make you feel cared for ❓

Each year, December 1-7 is set aside as Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Week - a time to talk about IBD and raise awareness and understanding of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. 

I've been sharing my experience with foods that I eat as a vegetarian living with ulcerative colitis. Today, I'm writing about my favorite way to eat pasta (hint: it's green). 

Since we're in the month of gratitude, the PAC wanted to take time to recognize and say thanks for the amazing support we've received.

It happens in a series of moments. Sleepless nights. Weight loss. Pain that gets worse with every day. Seeing test results of climbing inflammation numbers. I describe it distilled into one single moment: waking up from my first colonoscopy and hearing the words “ulcerative colitis.”

Hi, it's Vanessa from the PAC! School is busy right now, but fellow-PAC-member, Fionna and I made time to sit down and record a podcast episode where we chat about personal experiences we've each had changing our IBD treatment plans and how this fits into school and life for us.

When Shira joined the Patient Advisory Council - in October 2020 - she wrote that she was looking for a place where she could use her voice to influence the quality of care other people receive - to change someone else's life for the better. Since then, she has set about doing just that - co-chairing the PAC's Advocacy Taskforce and joining the imPACt podcast where she has contributed to patient-led discussions on topics ranging from Parent-Patient Relationships to Arthritis to Queerness & IBD. In her Fall 2021 Live Online Community Conference Ignite Talk, Shira brought us deeper into her IBD journey by sharing a raw and beautiful account of her own self-inquiry and discovery, of learning to lean in during the dark moments and hold space for the hard feelings IBD brings. She challenged us, as she has challenged herself, to acknowledge that, yes, IBD is a burden and it brings a certain loss of control, but it does not mean the loss of one's happiness or identity.

Be inspired by Shira's #IgniteTalk 🔥 

My name is Lordis, I am a 16 year old senior in High School and I have Crohn’s disease. I work at TJ Maxx part time, as well as with children at my local community center. A lot of people don’t know that I like to paint and make bracelets.

In my first post I said that I wanted to write about my experience with foods that I eat as a vegetarian living with ulcerative colitis. For this post I felt like writing about something that's not food-related, but that I think goes hand-in-hand with a healthy, balanced diet. Today, I'm writing about exercise.

This week's imPACt podcast episode is all about the upcoming Fall 2021 ImproveCareNow Live Online Community Conference!